Heli Down In Huntington Beach 11th October 2025
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From: Brantisvogan
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From: UK
.........A well trained helicopter pilot can recognise and contain the outcome of a TR failure in a number of ways, depending on the circumstances. In this case an immediate cutting of the throttles (or possibly lowering of the collective) would reduce the torque to the MR and arrest the rotation. Further action can reduce the impact; been there, done that and survived.
Not twin tail-rotor though, sadly.
........I've recently started to wonder why helicopters don't have twin independent tail rotors - driven independently - given that loss of same seems to be only marginally survivable ?
I am not trying to be be clever or judgemental here. Genuine curiosity. (Cost and weight are two obvious reasons).
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From: Germany
Look closely - there is a bang and the departing tail rotor - but only after spinning while climbing.
My guess - it is the result and not the cause
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From: Germany
That's what I wondered: in the fixed-wing airliner world, you have your hands and feet on all the relevant controls during take-off and landing, so you can chop the thrust while keeping other hand and feet on all the flight controls. With engine thrust levers in the roof, how would you chop power without taking your hand off the collective or cyclic - if you didn't have engine controls on the collective ? Genuine curiosity.
Not twin tail-rotor though, sadly.
I've recently started to wonder why helicopters don't have twin independent tail rotors - driven independently - given that loss of same seems to be only marginally survivable ?
I am not trying to be be clever or judgemental here. Genuine curiosity. (Cost and weight are two obvious reasons).
Not twin tail-rotor though, sadly.
I've recently started to wonder why helicopters don't have twin independent tail rotors - driven independently - given that loss of same seems to be only marginally survivable ?
I am not trying to be be clever or judgemental here. Genuine curiosity. (Cost and weight are two obvious reasons).
Still, with proper preflight and adherence to the flight manual the loss of a tail rotor is much much less frequent than ie an engine failure. So really no need to have two.
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From: Brantisvogan
They have all the bits, so it won't be too difficult to work out the cause.
The pilot is fortunately still with us, so this shouldn't remain a mystery for too long.
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From: Seat 1A
Originally Posted by Bell Ringer
look closely - there is a bang and the departing tail rotor - but only after spinning while climbing.
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From: Brantisvogan
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From: At home
How is the 222’s t/r authority? It is coming in with a crab angle, and to me it looks like the pilot in arresting the descendrate might have reached the pedal stop (or something restricting more left pedal to be applied) and in panic pulls in a hefty amount of collective to abort the landing.
With that amount of spin, I recon the t/r departing is the result and not the cause, but the pilot survived and there’s a lot of footage for the NTSB to work with, so time will tell
With that amount of spin, I recon the t/r departing is the result and not the cause, but the pilot survived and there’s a lot of footage for the NTSB to work with, so time will tell
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From: On the big blue planet
How is the 222’s t/r authority? It is coming in with a crab angle, and to me it looks like the pilot in arresting the descendrate might have reached the pedal stop (or something restricting more left pedal to be applied) and in panic pulls in a hefty amount of collective to abort the landing.
With that amount of spin, I recon the t/r departing is the result and not the cause, but the pilot survived and there’s a lot of footage for the NTSB to work with, so time will tell
With that amount of spin, I recon the t/r departing is the result and not the cause, but the pilot survived and there’s a lot of footage for the NTSB to work with, so time will tell
skadi
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From: UK
At about 1:22 on the #18 video, you can see one of the rail rotor blades suddenly change angle in the rotational plane. Instead of being 180° opposite the other blade, it moves round to about 150/210° from the other blade.
So a link of some sort must have let go and this would have set up a strong catastrophic out of balance vibration, which eventually caused both blades to separate, owing to fatigue failure followed by the hub.
Very soon after this it sounds that engine power was reduced ?, so it seems the pilot was doing the right thing to recover.
Very scary to watch - especially how quickly it happened, and I hope the human injuries are not too bad.
.
So a link of some sort must have let go and this would have set up a strong catastrophic out of balance vibration, which eventually caused both blades to separate, owing to fatigue failure followed by the hub.
Very soon after this it sounds that engine power was reduced ?, so it seems the pilot was doing the right thing to recover.
Very scary to watch - especially how quickly it happened, and I hope the human injuries are not too bad.
.
Last edited by Uplinker; 12th October 2025 at 14:11.
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From: USA
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From: Finland
That's what I wondered: in the fixed-wing airliner world, you have your hands and feet on all the relevant controls during take-off and landing, so you can chop the thrust while keeping other hand and feet on all the flight controls. With engine thrust levers in the roof, how would you chop power without taking your hand off the collective or cyclic - if you didn't have engine controls on the collective ? Genuine curiosity.
The H145 emergency checklist says lower the collective if in a hover otherwise accelerate/maintain speed above Vy and perform run-on landing or autorotation.
Last edited by mechpowi; 12th October 2025 at 13:46.
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From: On the big blue planet
Avoid imitations
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From: Wandering the FIR and cyberspace often at highly unsociable times
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From: Finland
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From: Brantisvogan
In what is effectively an accelerating centrifuge, it quickly becomes difficult to move any limb effectively while trying to maintain control.